The present invention relates to mining techniques and in particular to an improved apparatus and method of mining which utilizes existing auger holes or alternatively a specially drilled hole into the face of the mineral into which holes apparatus for recovering the mineral especially coal is inserted.
Augering is a conventional surface mining technique which frequently follows behind a strip mining operation. In any event, a horizontal bench is cut upon which the auger is disposed, and the auger holes are drilled into the coal seam at the bottom of the vertical high wall of the cut. When augering follows strip mining, augering recovers additional coal when it is no longer feasible to take a larger cut by strip mining, for example, due to the height of the high wall and the amount of overburden which would have to be removed to expose additional coal. The auger is then employed to drill holes in the order of 100-200 feet depending upon conditions. When one auger hole is completed, the auger is retracted and the apparatus is moved over and another hole started a few inches from the previous hole. In view of the coal left between auger holes and because these holes are circular, the amount of coal recovered by augering is usually in the order of 50%.